Acts 7:1-21 ▼

1 THEN said the high-priest, Are these things so?

2 He replied, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear me: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3 and said to him, Go forth out of thy country, and from among thy relations, and come hither to a land which I will shew thee.

4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans, and, dwelt in Charran: and from thence, after his father was dead, God removed him as a sojourner into this very country, in which we now dwell.

5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not so much as the print of his foot: yet he promised to give it for a possession to him and to his seed after him, when he had no son.

6 Then spake God to him thus, That his seed should sojourn in a foreign land: and that they should enslave it, and grievously afflict it, four hundred years.

7 And the nation by which they shall be enslaved will I judge, said God: and after these things they shall come out, and shall worship me in this place.

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9 And the patriarchs, envious, sold Joseph into Egypt: yet God was with him,

10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11 Then came a famine upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress: and our fathers found no provisions.

12 But when Jacob heard that there were provisions in Egypt, he sent our fathers, the first time.

13 And the second time Joseph was made known unto his brethren; and Joseph's family was made known unto Pharaoh.

14 Then sent Joseph, and invited his father Jacob to come to him, and all his kindred, consisting of seventy-five persons.

15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, himself, and our fathers,

16 and they removed him to Sychem, and laid him in the sepulchre which Abraham had bought, at a price paid in silver, of the sons of Emmor, the father of Shechem.

17 But as the time of the promise which God had with an oath confirmed unto Abraham drew nigh, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

18 until another king arose, who knew not Joseph.

19 This man, forming crafty designs against our nation, grievously treated our fathers, so as to cause them to expose their children, in order to exterminate the race.

20 At which time Moses was born, and was endued with singular beauty from God, who was brought up three months in the house of his father:

21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him home, and brought him up for herself, as a son.